THE YEAR IN IDEAS: A TO Z.

THE YEAR IN IDEAS: A TO Z.; Play With Your Food

By Jaime Wolf

Published: December 9, 2001

The idea that food might also furnish a creative diversion is as old as alphabet soup. But playing with floating bits of pasta is fairly staid when you can make like Jackson Pollock with fluorescent hues of ketchup.

It was Heinz that had the bold idea to add blue and yellow dye to their traditional formula to create ''Blastin' Green'' ketchup. The company quickly sold 10 million plastic squirt containers filled with the stuff. Just this summer, Heinz added a ''Funky Purple'' variety. Joining the party, ConAgra Foods has begun to offer its Parkay margarine in bright blue and pink.

Manufacturers have long known that an element of playfulness enhances the appeal of food products to children, whose aggressive lobbying (or nagging) is frequently responsible for their parents' purchasing decisions. But never before have foods been so overtly marketed as toys. Flavored varieties of Mott's applesauce now come in turquoise, red and acid green. You can buy Nabisco fruit snacks cut into X's and O's for playing tick-tack-toe. Milk Changer Oreo cookies, with orange creme filling, are designed to create colorful swirly patterns when dunked in a glass of milk. And Quaker Instant Oatmeal Treasure Hunt contains miniature treasure chests that melt as you mix in hot water, revealing edible jewels and coins contained within.

Anyone old enough to have been imprinted with the notion that ketchup is ''supposed'' to be red and margarine yellow may find neon-colored condiments unappetizing. But for children coming fresh to the table, it's all equal, a matter of choice -- and for them, yellow margarine and red ketchup will most likely be an important part of the action-food-painting palette. It may be some time before children get into sirloin sculpture or broccoli-and-green-pea bonsai gardens, but clearly playtime is no longer over when mealtime begins. JAIME WOLF